Chobani marketer recruited as marketing and innovation leader at Majans

Former Chobani Australia marketing leader, Damian Young, has confirmed he’s joining snack manufacturer, Majans, as its first head of marketing and innovation.

Young spent the past 10 years working for Chobani as general manager of marketing, sitting on the company leadership team and overseeing marketing, new product development and innovation, brand marketing, communications, consumer services and field marketing. He left the FMCG in October.   

Prior to this, Young held marketing roles across Lion Co, Australian Country Spinners and Nestle Peters Ice Cream. Young was recognised for his achievements in the 2018 edition of the CMO50 list of Australia’s most innovative and effective marketing leaders.  

At family owned Majans, Young is taking up a newly created role overseeing a portfolio that includes brands such as Bhuja and Infuzions. He starts on 10 January 2022 and reports to the board.

Reflecting on his time as part of the Chobani team, Young said he enjoyed the journey from “scrappy” to number one brand in the Australian market. He highlighted founder and owner, Hamdi Ulukaya, as both a visionary and inspirational leader to work with, and thanked both current chief, Lyn Radford, and former MD, Peter Meek, for bringing him into the business.

“We were determined to bring Australians better food and challenge what is possible in the food industry,” he said in a LinkedIn post announcing his new role. “Aussie shoppers loved what we did, and their purchase decisions made Chobani the number one brand by value in 2017 – a position Chobani has held ever since.

“Chobani has exceeded all expectations of what I thought we could achieve when I joined the business. It has been a non-stop, action-packed adventure. I have been getting itchy feet for new challenges though, and felt it was the perfect time to leave the business in good hands.”

As previously reported on CMO, Chobani has now combined its marketing, sales and category teams into a new demand function following Young’s departure. Overseeing the new-look team is Julia Clark, another long-time employee of the business. The newly created role of general manager of demand see Clark reporting directly to managing director, Lyn Radford.  

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